2008: Meditations in an emergency.
Last year it was the writers' strike. This year it was Jay Leno moving to primetime.
It will be fun to look back on this decade and try to pinpoint the true harbinger of scripted network television's demise. Was it TiVo in the Living Room with the Wrench? Or YouTube in the Den with the Candlestick?
Lost is going be an anachronism when it reappears in January. It managed to single handedly resurrect and bury the long-form narrative on network television. Although that term "network" is going to become increasingly irrelevant: as media distribution modes continually converge, the distinction between network and cable is going to disappear. Goodbye Sweeps Week! We will miss your gratuitous celebrity cameos and ridiculous plot contrivances.
In this end of days, how did the 10 series fare in the eternal struggle for my limited attention? Once again, ranked in order of ennui.
Reaper: Didn't air a single episode. Second season supposedly starts up in March -- doesn't sound like a promising premier date. Then again, this is the CW. It is not like it has a lot to lose.
Pushing Daisies: Didn't watch a single episode. And it was cancelled. I would feel bad, but I am not a Nielson household and the series was torpedoed by the writer's strike. Adding insult to injury, ABC didn't even give Fuller the chance to do a proper finale for the series. Talk about bad karma. I would use this as some sort of representative of the larger atrophying of network television, but I think Fuller is just cursed.
Heroes: Mark and Ben have both hinted at a more promising season, but EW begs to differ. I never got around to giving it a second chance, but I might drag myself through in preparation for the next story arc (kind of like I might for the Battlestar Galactica finale). Recent interviews with Fuller, who is now officially back on staff, has given me hope that the show might be able to right itself. What say you? Should I give this bloated series another shot?
Entourage: I didn't get any farther in the series, but I probably will over the holidays. It may not be anywhere near as good as it once was, but at least it is still mildly entertaining. Probably the same reason most people watch network sitcoms.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: What a bizarre season. It featured some quality episodes, but too many just never quite added up. Its taboo-busting centripetal force might finally be spinning to a halt.
Survivor: Another fairly good season. It always amuses me when the contestants wax philosophical in the finale about how Survivor changed their lives forever. It is like the show fosters this Jüngerian belief in crisis as the true crucible of human development. Hate to break it to you d00ds: it is just a game show.
The Office: I know. The show is still great. But replacing Holly with Toby and reuniting Pam and Jim (once again), not to mention bringing back Ryan, just confirms in my mind that there is only so much room for narrative development on a network television series.
30 Rock: Sorry for fronting a couple of months ago. This is still the best show on network television. But the overwhelming number of guest stars has been a bit, well, underwhelming. Is Josh still on the show? For that matter, are half of the other supporting characters? I need to start an online petition. Free Hornberger.
Dexter: Dexter has developed a great formula for the series. Step One: Establish a set of rules of behavior for a character. Step Two: Find a new way to test said rules each season. Repeat. Like 24, this series is masterful at building and maintaing tension. Unlike 24, it actually has a sense of humor.
Mad Men: The best show on television. Why lie.
It will be fun to look back on this decade and try to pinpoint the true harbinger of scripted network television's demise. Was it TiVo in the Living Room with the Wrench? Or YouTube in the Den with the Candlestick?
Lost is going be an anachronism when it reappears in January. It managed to single handedly resurrect and bury the long-form narrative on network television. Although that term "network" is going to become increasingly irrelevant: as media distribution modes continually converge, the distinction between network and cable is going to disappear. Goodbye Sweeps Week! We will miss your gratuitous celebrity cameos and ridiculous plot contrivances.
In this end of days, how did the 10 series fare in the eternal struggle for my limited attention? Once again, ranked in order of ennui.
Reaper: Didn't air a single episode. Second season supposedly starts up in March -- doesn't sound like a promising premier date. Then again, this is the CW. It is not like it has a lot to lose.
Pushing Daisies: Didn't watch a single episode. And it was cancelled. I would feel bad, but I am not a Nielson household and the series was torpedoed by the writer's strike. Adding insult to injury, ABC didn't even give Fuller the chance to do a proper finale for the series. Talk about bad karma. I would use this as some sort of representative of the larger atrophying of network television, but I think Fuller is just cursed.
Heroes: Mark and Ben have both hinted at a more promising season, but EW begs to differ. I never got around to giving it a second chance, but I might drag myself through in preparation for the next story arc (kind of like I might for the Battlestar Galactica finale). Recent interviews with Fuller, who is now officially back on staff, has given me hope that the show might be able to right itself. What say you? Should I give this bloated series another shot?
Entourage: I didn't get any farther in the series, but I probably will over the holidays. It may not be anywhere near as good as it once was, but at least it is still mildly entertaining. Probably the same reason most people watch network sitcoms.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: What a bizarre season. It featured some quality episodes, but too many just never quite added up. Its taboo-busting centripetal force might finally be spinning to a halt.
Survivor: Another fairly good season. It always amuses me when the contestants wax philosophical in the finale about how Survivor changed their lives forever. It is like the show fosters this Jüngerian belief in crisis as the true crucible of human development. Hate to break it to you d00ds: it is just a game show.
The Office: I know. The show is still great. But replacing Holly with Toby and reuniting Pam and Jim (once again), not to mention bringing back Ryan, just confirms in my mind that there is only so much room for narrative development on a network television series.
30 Rock: Sorry for fronting a couple of months ago. This is still the best show on network television. But the overwhelming number of guest stars has been a bit, well, underwhelming. Is Josh still on the show? For that matter, are half of the other supporting characters? I need to start an online petition. Free Hornberger.
Dexter: Dexter has developed a great formula for the series. Step One: Establish a set of rules of behavior for a character. Step Two: Find a new way to test said rules each season. Repeat. Like 24, this series is masterful at building and maintaing tension. Unlike 24, it actually has a sense of humor.
Mad Men: The best show on television. Why lie.
posted by d l wright at 12/20/2008 01:48:00 PM
4 Comments:
Nah. Heroes didn't get any better. It got worse. But there is hope for part of this next block of episodes since Bryan Fuller is coming back.
I disagree with Mark, I think Heroes got better - Eric thinks so too. But my tastes might be unrefined, I don't watch the hills. :)
And my fantasy basketball team is beating mark's by half a point.
Heroes got better than Season 2... but it's still a long way off of Season 1.
Also, check next Monday. We'll see who's winning by half a point.
OK Pushing Daisies is amazing and should be watched. It really makes me mad what they did to it so we need to write letters to ABC and tell them what idiots they are.
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